INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The dollar figures are steadily escalating as are the number of stakes wins. Halfway through the 2011 season, trainer Jeff Bonde is on course for a record-breaking season.
Through Sunday, Bonde’s California-based stable had won 36 races from 157 starters and earned $1,813,634. He has saddled 10 stakes winners. Within a few months, his personal best of $2.4 million in earnings set in 1999 could easily be surpassed.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has vetoed a decision by the state’s racing commission to award $15 million in casino subsidies to the state’s Thoroughbred and Standardbred industries, according to a letter Christie sent to the commission.
With any luck, this week's Breeders' Cup Challenge Series races will be just as thrilling as last week's. Both the Hollywood Gold Cup and the Smile Sprint Handicap featured roaring comebacks in deep stretch by their respective winners, First Dude and Giant Ryan.
DRF national handicapper Mike Watchmaker and correspondent David Grening discuss the Eclipse Awards picture midway through the racing season.
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Ratings for July 5, 2011. For weekly updates: Watchmaker Watch »
Jockey Rosie Napravnik, who broke her left arm in a spill at Delaware Park on Wednesday, will miss two to three months of action, according to her publicist, Kelly Wietsma.
Napravnik, who underwent six hours of surgery on Thursday at Christiana Hospital in Delaware, was forced to undergo a second operation late Friday night, Wietsma wrote in an e-mail. According to Wietsma, Thursday's surgery was complicated because surgeons had to replace a plate that was inserted in four years ago to repair a broken wrist with a larger plate.
The nationally televised Hollywood Gold Cup highlights a huge Saturday of stakes races. Twirling Candy, having won three stakes already this year, is the main attraction. His competition includes Santa Anita Handicap winner Game On Dude, Setsuko, and defending champ Awesome Gem. The winner gets a spot in the Breeders' Cup as part of the Challenge series' "Win and You're In" setup.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Carl Lizza, a prominent owner and breeder on the New York Racing Association circuit for more than three decades, died early Friday morning in his sleep at his New Jersey home. He was 73.
Lizza had suffered from diabetes for more than 30 years and a few years ago had his left leg amputated. He also underwent a hernia operation on Thursday.
Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom returned to trainer Graham Motion’s barn at the Fair Hill training center in Maryland over the Fourth of July weekend following surgery to repair two fractures that will sideline him the remainder of his 3-year-old season.
On June 30, Animal Kingdom had two screws inserted to repair a slab fracture of the left hock as well as an additional hairline fracture in the site of the original one. The surgery was performed by Dr. Dean Richardson at the New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa.